This invention relates generally to a process for preparing diluted beverage strength teas from a brewed tea xe2x80x9cconcentratexe2x80x9d or storage solution. The concentrate may be diluted and used if desired to prepare iced tea or hot tea beverages.
In many situations concentrated solutions of tea are desirable to simplify shipping and packaging costs and to deliver a beverage with brewed tea flavor without the actual requirement of having to freshly brew tea.
Dilute tea extracts, have been used in Food Service applications for years and relatively low concentration storage solutions have been employed, usually at a level of about 0.5% to 1.0% tea solids. There is no difficulty diluting these low concentration storage or tea extract solutions with water to form iced tea beverages. Generally the storage solutions are held at room temperature and mixed with cold water to form a beverage strength drink. In the case of iced tea, ice then may be added to form the final beverage.
Iced tea cannot be conveniently prepared by infusing traditionally manufactured tea leaves in cold water. Instead, the leaves are usually infused in hot water, removed, if necessary unless they are in a tea bag, and the beverage is then refrigerated until it is ready to consume. Alternately tea leaves, both loose and in bags, have been placed in water in sunlight to infuse slowly over a period of hours. A more convenient option is to prepare the iced tea beverage from a concentrated or storage solution.
Shelf stable tea concentrates used to prepare these iced tea beverages are highly desirable and have several applications. These include: the ability to supply a brewed tea concentrate for uses in the Ready-to-Drink tea and Fountain tea products; as a tea concentrate product for retail sale; and as a preferred method of transporting tea solids. One advantage of the tea concentrate of the invention over a powder or a dilute tea extract is that better tea character is obtained. In addition, less energy is employed in manufacturing than for a powder and less weight and volume are needed for shipping a concentrate than for a dilute extract.
In the prior art, tea concentrates were considered to be physically unstable, which prevented their use in many tea products. However, it is believed that under certain conditions tea products made from tea concentrates have better quality (e.g., flavor, freshness, etc.) than powders and are more economical than tea powder or dilute tea extract. Therefore, it is highly desirable to have a shelf stable tea concentrate and consequently to have a method of preparing beverage strength iced tea of high quality and good clarity from these concentrates is also required.
A method of diluting these highly concentrated storage solutions while still retaining the stability of a less concentrated storage solution is thus seen to be desirable.
The present invention has discovered that if the concentrate is heated to an elevated temperature before dilution then the Hunter Haze Value measured with a Hunter DP 9000 Spectrophotometer at 60xc2x0 F. in a 5 cm. cell of the final beverage strength product can be dramatically reduced. In addition it has been discovered that the use of de-ionized or treated water instead of tap water also improves the haze value of the final product but that this effect evens out at higher temperatures. The accompanying figure shows that heating the concentrate to a temperature of about 160xc2x0 F. or higher slightly before or during dilution results in a Hunter Haze Value in the final beverage of less than 50 which is required in a final consumer product. This beverage contains about 0.1% to 0.35% tea solids